My research interests center on the major ion chemistry of the cryosphere and the atmosphere, and on the development of climate records through the recovery and analysis of ice cores. Over the past decade I have been involved in research expeditions to Nepal, China, Pakistan, the Canadian Arctic, Greenland and Antarctica. In conjunction with colleagues in the Glacier Research Group my current research, funded primarily by the National Science Foundation, is focused in the Himalayas and the Canadian Arctic.

As part of a collaborative research program with the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology in Kathmandu, we are developing a high resolution, multi-parameter 1000 year climate record of the Asian monsoon through the chemical and physical analysis of 200 m ice cores recovered from high elevation (> 6000m) glaciers in the eastern Himalayas. We are also investigating the impact of anthropogenic emissions and monsoon air masses on aerosol chemistry over an altitudinal transect in Nepal. In collaboration with scientists from the Geological Survey of Canada, we are involved in the development and interpretation of ice core derived climate records from several ice caps in the Canadian Arctic.

I am also working with Dr. Paul Mayewski to foster the development of the Himalayan Interdisciplinary Paleoclimate Project (HIPP) within the IGBP-Past Global Changes Core Project. The HIPP initiative represents a multidisciplinary program aimed at improving our understanding of past changes in the behavior of the Indian and Plateau monsoons over the past 2000 years, 20,000 years, and beyond through the collection and analysis of high resolution, multi-variate paleoclimatic records from the highlands of central Asia.